Social Networking Sites
Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………2
Chapter 2: Review of the literature…………………………………………………………….7
Chapter 3: Statement of results………………………………………………………………..11
Chapter 4: Analysis and discussion…………………………………………………………...19
Chapter 5: Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....23
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...24
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………..25
Introduction The police of the Almaty region opened a criminal case against a 17year old teenager, who was surfing another’s Internet for a few months and expended 460 000 tenge. As it turned out, the child connected to the internet of Forestry Raiymbek district area which is 500 kilometers from Taldykorgan city. The police contacted with managers of Forest Company, whom Kazakhtelecom presented a bill for an internet for 460 000 tenge. They started to figure out during the investigation that the robber was a Taldykorgan schoolboy. According to a source, "the robber" was arrested in December last year. However, criminal handlings were instituted under the Article 175, Part 1 of the Criminal Code. Now the investigation continues. The amount of damage will be charged from boy 's parents. The arrested boy explained that he didn’t have Internet at home, because his family is poor, and he wanted to be always on social networking sites, such as Mail.ru and Vkontakte.ru. Consequently, it is right to say that the boy had a great dependence on social networking sites, and could not pay for Internet at home and at an Internet café. In conclusion, it is necessary to note that in 2010 the police intercepted the activity of two groups of hackers. Ten Internet robbers were detained by police, they caused major material damage to Talgar’s and Taldykorgan’s organizations. Police did not rule out the fact that the 17 year old teenager could be with a group of hackers, from which he took over the experience (2010, Tengrinews). The dependence on social networking sites is the problem of teenagers, who cannot understand the real dangers from it. It is necessary to mark that there are positive sides to using social networking sites, such as rapid access to the communication with people, interesting pastime with different interlocutors, and of course the possibility to be in contact every time. These stories are found everywhere. The internet has become an integral part of society. With one keystroke I can buy any little thing at the other end of the planet or communicate with a school friend who lives in Australia. Society is becoming increasingly integrated, globalization is takingXitsXscourse, andXuniversal computerization and Internet communication will only grow. There are prerequisites to think so. And there will be benefits for humanity. But there will be downsides, because every coin has two sides. The problem of Internet addiction was revealed with the growth in popularity of the Internet. Some people got so carried away by a virtual space that they began to prefer the Internet and social networks to reality, spending 18 hours a day on the computer. The dramatic failure of the Internet makes such people anxious and emotionally aroused. The problem of social networks is expressed in the fact that some teenagers no longer realize that virtual communication is only a supplement to a full live communication. Popular social networking sites take the leading position in the rankings of attendance in kaznet. (2010, Kaznet Obzor) In recent years, among the Internet-resources of Russia and Kazakhstan social networks such as Odnoklassniki.ru, My World and Vkontakte became popular . The problem of social networks leads to the fact that users of such resources lose their individuality (2010, Caravan). Some teenagers cease to realize that communicating online is not a real live communication. In addition, the ability to change reality and to appear rich and successful attracts many people. You can be the owner of a store chain and owner of a new Lexus for the interlocutors in the network, while actually, you are just a teacher of Russian language and literature at a school in a suburb of Almaty. Most teenagers are faced with this kind of problem. So, the problem of social networking sites is the substitution of real communication, and the destruction of working time, the destruction of families. The need to constantly go to the pages on social networking sites is dependence, which is similar to the desire of drug addicts to take the next dose.Teenagers are wasting dozens or even hundreds of thousands of hours, depending on the size of enterprises. The problem of social networking sites that is that they give the illusion of real life. The term "social network" was coined by the sociologist James Barnes in 1954. The modern concept of social networks in a simple form means a circle of friends of a person, where a man himself is the center of a social network,and his friends are a branch of the social networks and relationships between people are ties.Therefore, social networks are actively used for the production of diverse information about people or organizations. In the second half of the 20th century social networks were actively developed as a scientific concept, they first became popular in the West, later they came to Kazakhstan. In 1995 appeared the first, almost, social networking site, Classmates.com, which was created by Randy Conrad, the owner of Classmates Online, Inc. Classmates.com was different from many existing social networks. Users could not create profiles, but they could locate lost friends, terrible school bullies, and perhaps even his memorable "first date". It became a hit, and even today the site consists of approximately 40 million registered users. Then, in 2003-2004 sites such as MySpace and Facebook appeared( 2008, The picture of social networks, Newsland) Social networking sites were becoming not only a tool for finding friends and acquaintances, but also an attractive way to establish new contacts. Now social networking sites exist within certain groups of people who are united by common interests and views or professional characteristics (2008, The picture of social networks, Newsland). Friends and new acquaintances now are made in the electronic world. Today, there is an information war. And the most valuable thing is information. Where can we find different information? We can find it in the social networking sites. Social networking sites are very useful for communication, but redundancy causes dependence of people of different ages and various strata of society on it. The problem of dependence on social networking sites is still actual for many generations. This research is very important because even parents sometimes cannot explain the behavior of their children. The intention of my research paper is to find the reasons of dependence on social networking sites, its effects, why many children have depression and aggression, and to find out whether those social networking sites are really dangerous for teenagers. I found out the reaction of the teenagers aged from 13 to 19 to prohibition of using sites, and the solutions of our society and government offer to solve these kinds of problems. The research paper will show effects of the dependence on the society and the main causes of this problem. The main objective is to understand the real influence of the social network sites on teenagers and their minds. I reported the numbers of people, who noticed dependence, the report of media about “internet” incidents within the past few years, and details about psychological and physical condition in teenagers from the employees of medical and educational institutions. So, the main research question is whether social networking sites pose a threat for humanity and to find out the symptoms of dependence. The problem of social networking sites necessitates explaining to the teenager that active communication across social networks is only a complement to a full live communication. That is what will help to prevent acts of antisocial behavior among young people. In my research work I expected to find out answers to the questions I wanted to investigate. Is it really the case, that social networking sites have a bad influence on teenagers and their minds? This is the main question in my work. Many people have said differently about this issue, but no one knows the right answers to it. Through my surveys I found the real face and meaning of social networking sites. The methods and purposes of my work are closely connected with each other. The social networking sites and their effects are still very interesting issue in the society. Every person can react differently to the prohibition of using sites. I am a person who uses social networking sites every day, and I did not use this for a period of 4 days, took notes about changes in my mood and my wishes. This mode is necessary, because it is impossible to write a research work without knowledge and experience in these things. I expected deep difficulties in abstention from Internet resources even for 4 days, but it was a good experience to understand the negative and positive sides of the question. I planned survey, which included 8-9 thematical questions and 4-5 extra questions, which showed private information of every person, like name, gender, age and marital status. I expected that these results would illustrate the whole picture of attitude to the social networking sites based on surveys of all interrogated teenagers. Such questions, like “Do you prefer virtual communication instead of real communication?” and “What is your purpose of visiting social networking sites?” helped me to create surveys for all participants from the ages of 13 to 19. The surveys were conducted on the 5th and 7th of April. So, I detected negative aspects of spending much time on social networking sites. The last point of the research methods were 3 interviews with the people of 17-20 years old, because it is important to know their conception of the dependence. Within these 3 interviews I planned 1 interview with the person from another country, especially Russia. These 3 teenagers are students in university that is why it was easier to find points of contact. To research for the good results, it is indispensable to compare the situation in our country with another. The preferable point is that the most social networking sites, which are popular in Kazakhstan, were created in Russia, that’s why it is useful to know the differences in circumstances with the use of them exactly in Russia. The types of 3 interviews were not anonymous, and all teenagers introduced themselves without any problems. The research work is divided into introduction, review of the literature, statement of results, analysis and discussion, and conclusion. All these parts are closely connected with each other and show the main idea through the whole work. The bibliography and appendix are applied.
Review of the literature Over the past decade, the Internet has changed the way people communicate with each other. In modern society more and more people use Social Networking Sites, it is a part of their lives. Social Networking Sites are very popular especially among young generation. Social Networking Sites is one of the most popular topics today. Having searched the literature related to the topic of Influence of SNS on Interpersonal Relationships I have found a lot of information and can say that many authors are very interested in it. The main interest is the influence of the social networking sites on children and teenagers. Almost every article includes a little research with examples and comparisons. However, there are as many opinions as people. Some articles mainly consist of negative effects of using Social Networking Sites. But on the other hand, there are a lot of studies that suggest the opposite. Each author has his/her point of view which influence on the work. In the article “Social Networking Sites influence students’ lives, society” by Adam Nelson, a Teacher of the Social Sciences in the USA, Jason Milczewski, is interviewed in 2010. According to Milczewski, Social Networking helps people to be more connected and get information from all over the world. Despite the fact that it is easy to keep in touch, Social Networking Sites make our society a little weaker because face-to-face communication is taken away. But he noted that virtual communication is very different thing in comparison with real communication with people. Facebook is one of the biggest and the most popular SN in the USA. It is easy to use and to control the profile. Milczewski states that SN helps people to be more diverse and smarter. I agree with Jason Milczewski because Social Networking Sites might be beneficial if people use them wisely. But the problem is that millions of teenagers spent many hours sitting in front of a monitor. However, people also use it irresponsibly by putting pictures up and writing things which will stay forever. Also, he mentioned that parents should monitor the way that their children use it. In this situation only parents can control the way of spending time their children. Ultimately, Adam Nelson suggests to control and limit actions on the Internet. The quotation from the recent film The Social Network explained by the main hero , “The Internet is not written in pencil… it is written in ink.” Another article “How Social Networking Websites Can Influence Teenagers” written by American psychologist J. Tab presents only some negative effects. The article was written in 2011. The author of this article discourages using SN by teenagers because of studies that have revealed the SN may cause some psychiatric disorders. It is not one research which proved negative influence of SNS on children and teenagers. This conclusion was reached after interviews with 13-year-old girls. After the interviews were analyzed by scientists, they concluded that teenagers use SN very often in order to escape problems in their lives, however they cannot always hide from the problems, so these become more acute and can lead to depression. On the other hand, sometimes SN can help people to relax and just forget about problems, so after that people might look at them with a “fresh view”. The author tries to encourage parents and older people to help teenagers reduce the time they spend using SNS. J. Tab, as doctor opposes strongly against Social Networking Sites because it makes teenagers’ life more passive and I think this is a really strong reason. There are also positive sides of using Social Networking Sites, which are showed in work of the English psychologist Sharon Hurley Hall.(Problems with Social networking Sites and Teens, 2010) But nevertheless negative sides in her work are stronger that positive. She explains the dangers of Social Networking Sites, their causes and consequences. There is advice for parents about how to prevent dependence on Social Networking Sites in their children. This article is mainly based on everyday problems from Social Networking Sites like publicizing private instant messages, posting threatening messages, posting photos that will cause embarrassment, and spreading rumors. In comparison with the research of other authors, it is necessary to note, that Sharon Hurley Hall produces the sudden decisions, which can help children and teenagers not to be dependent on Social Networking Sites. This article has some aspects which gave me the right directions in researching SNS. A Professor of psychology at California State University-Los Angeles, Kaveri Subrahmanyam, and a Distinguished Professor of psychology, Patricia Greenfield, (2008) have written a book “Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships”. They are working together with the director of the Children’s Digital Media Centre Phil Robison withr the investigation influence of Social Networking Sites on teenagers. The authors have produced an interesting and useful work. This book is based mainly on researches connected with the different teenager’s preferences and surveys. The authors show that teenagers are using communication tools to reinforce existing relationships, both with friends and romantic partners. It is necessary for parents to read this book, because they will understand better why their children prefer online communication. The book touches on the different aspects of the topic of my research. The authors analyze the influence of online communication on relationships with friends, families, romantic partners and strangers. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield show that teenagers use Online Communication to reinforce the existing relationships with friends and romantic partners. After the reading of the surveys I noticed that I would give the same answers to some questions as the majority of teenagers do. Social Networking Sites allow teenagers to create profiles, make friends and interact with them. The authors describe some studies which were conducted to determine the purposes of using online communication and they found out that gender plays an important role. For example, girls use SNS mainly to reinforce existing relationships while boys use them to flirt and make new friends (p.125). Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield referred to a survey which was made by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. According to this survey 48% of online teenagers state that the Internet helps to improve their relationships with friends. However, it can cause serious conflicts between parents and children. Parents do not know everything about their children’s lives. One recent survey of parents showed that they know nothing about their children’s SNS behaviors. The authors also determine the benefits and costs of online interactions with strangers. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield demonstrate that online communication can be both positive and negative. The main problem with the SNS in Kazakhstan is that nobody can imagine that teenagers are in mental danger. There is no scientific literature and articles about influence of SNS on teenagers, because in 2008 the government and the psychologists of Kazakhstan Republic banned to write about Internet dependence, SNS dependence, crime committed under dependence on Internet. That’s why it was very hard to find information about SNS in Kazakhstan. I focused on American articles and researche because the creation of SNS occurred in theUnited States, and the information and studies about SNS are more clear than in others countries. All things considered, this Literature Review consists of three short summaries of the literature I have read so far. The first is “Social Networking Sites influence students’ lives, society” by Adam Nelson. He describes the great possibilities of using Social Networking Sites and some consequences to which it can lead. The second article is called “How Social Networking Websites Can Influence Teenagers” written by J. Tab who is strongly against SN because it might harm to physical and psychological health. The third article is mainly about negative influence of SNS and the ways of solving those problems in cyber world. The fourth one is the longest. The book is written by two authors: Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield. I found this book interesting, it contains a lot of surveys. One of the main purposes of this work is to determine how online-communication influence real-life communication and relationships. Another purpose is to benefit from the using online communication while avoiding the dangers. The results of the researches which I used are pretty similar to the results of this research work. But also there are some differences which showed sundry understanding of society about what is a social networking site.
Statement of results Almost all people know about social networking sites. People who use social networking sites are of different ages and social status, preferences and tastes, wealth and marital status. Social networking sites are very big problem for teenagers in Almaty. One well-known British psychologist, Aric Sigman, commented in his article in the journal “Biologist” in 2010 about the negative impact on human’s health, which is caused by social networking sites. He acknowledges that these Web services bring many benefits, making social lives very rich and interesting. However, networking sites like Facebook or “Vkontakte” eventually replace the live communication with virtual. With respect to Kazakhstan, this problem is particularly acute, and its extension is closely connected with the culture of our society. Our society should fight with this problem, and every person should understand the negative influence of social networking sites. That is why I decided to conduct field research to see the negative influence of social networking sites on teenagers, because teenagers are the basis of our society. The survey included 8-9 thematical questions and 4-5 extra questions, which showed private information of every person, like name, gender, age and marital status. Questionnaires were completed by 26 teenagers aged from 13 to 18 years old, 50% of these teenagers are studying at school and universities. The surveys were conducted on the March 5th and 7th. These questionnaires contained both open and closed questions, to detect the influence of social networking sites on teenagers. Three unstructured interviews were conducted to complement the surveys and to detect the attitude of teenagers to this problem. And in the end, I decided to test myself by not using social networking sites within 4 days, as I am a heavy user of such sites. The results of the questionnaires are showed first, then the observations and descriptions of all interviews, while the results of the individual practical test are the last point. There are many people who used social networking sites for different reasons, but they are united by one thing - an overwhelming desire to communicate online, replacing real life with "life" on the World Wide Web. The majority of users are teenagers and children, who cannot understand the real dangers of social networking sites. The methods of investigation were not so difficult, as they seemed to be. There were 10 males and 16 females out of 26 people. All of them were glad to answer such questions, because they think that social networking sites cause serious trouble for them. All of 26 people are users of Personal Computer and Internet. The participants were asked about the frequency of visits to social networking sites, about their reasons to visit it, their attitude to people who “lived” in social networking sites and the description of relations with friends, including private information. The aim of this survey was to know the attitude of teenagers to the social networking sites, and to detect the dependence of Almaty teenagers. The questions were structured, and all participants answered without problems to the following questions: “Do you feel a lack of communication?”, “Do you have an account in the social networking sites?”, “How many hours do you spend in the social networking sites per day?”, “How often do you visit SNS?” All these questions were easy for teenagers, and without any doubts they answered them all. But such questions, like “What is your purpose of visiting SNS?”, “Do you prefer virtual communication instead of real communication?” and “What is your attitude to the people who “live” in the SNS?” caused difficulties. It was very interesting to notice that even teenager’s faces were bewildered. The last question was “What is your way of spending time?” which showed genuine interest to the SNS. All questions were interesting for participants, and the table 1 shows the results: the number of questions, the variant of answer, and common quantity of participants.
Table 1.
| | | |
|Number of question |Variant of answer |The quantity of answers |
| | | |
|1. Do you feel lack of |yes |6 |
|communication? | | |
| | no | 20 |
|2. Have you an account in | Vkontakte | 11 |
|the SNS? | | |
| | Mail.ru | 13 |
| | Facebook, Twitter| 2 |
| | |0 |
| | | 16 |
|3. How many hours a day do |more that 5 hours | |
|you spent in the SNS? | | |
| | | 6 |
| |1-3 hours | |
| | My | 4 |
| |internet | |
| |is working all the | |
| |time | |
|4. How often do you visit | Every day | 19 |
|SNS? | | |
| | Once in the 2-3 days | 5 |
| | Once in a week | 2 |
|5. What is your purpose of |Communication with friends | 12 |
|visiting SNS? | | |
| | Spending time | 10 |
| | Downloading music, films | 4 |
|6. Do you prefer virtual | yes | 13 |
|communication instead of | | |
|real? | | |
| | no | 13 |
|7. What is your attitude to | positive | 8 |
|the people who “live” in the| | |
|SNS? | | |
| |negative | 18 |
|8. What is your way of |Going for a work, sport, | 6 |
|spending free time? |dating | |
| |Watching films, playing PC, | 20 |
| |using SNS | |
The most important results in this survey are obtaining useful information about way of spending free time and using social networking sites. And the most surprising results for me were that teens prefer to spend time on Social Networking Sites instead of a tour with friends and communication with people face to face. It is easier for them to write messages than to have a friendly talk with person. Another thing which struck me is that teenagers spent more than 3-4 hours a day on the Internet and Social Networking Sites. Eighteen teenagers stated that they feel negatively to ward the people who “live” in the SNS. But at the same time nineteen participants recognized that they are visiting Social Networking Sites every day. This is paradox- to spent more than 4 hours per day on the Internet and visit Social Networking Sites every day, but hold negative attitude to such kinds of people. According to these results, I can make output which will help me to understand the situation with using Social Networking Sites. As was said above, there were 10 males and 16 females, most of them are studying at school or college. 20%, which is over 5 people, are studying at university. The age of participants is different. More than 60% are 18-19 years old, and others ranged from 13 to 17 years. Only 3 participants at the age of 18 are married. Many participants were in doubt about questions, I asked about difficulties and for 80% of teenagers it was hard to answer such questions like, did they know people who live a virtual life instead of a real one. So, it was interesting to notice different kind of senses on their faces, because it seemed that participants were surprised and interested in this questionnaire. Three interviews were conducted, but all of them were long and surprising for participants. And these three interviews recorded on my mobile phone. The first person with whom I had an interview was Vladimir. This interview was held on March11th. His age is 19 years old, he seems to be very clever and not an ordinary man, that is why the talk was very interesting for both of us. He answered questions easily and smoothly, and I suggested that he had repeatedly faced with similar situations. Vladimir was so calm and seasoned, that I was a bit confused. I found it hard to talk to him on this subject, because two years ago, his sister committed suicide because of unrequited love to a virtual boyfriend. But he was the only person among all peers, who sees the problem of social networking sites clearly. There was only one thing that betrayed that he was nervous: all the time he constantly touched his hair. The confidence was playing a big role in this interview, and he knows that for me it was too hard to answer such questions, like what was his attitude to the people who spend all the time in the social networking sites. This is a passage of our interview: Svetlana: I know that it is hard for you to talk about it, but I hope that this talk will bring us understanding of the problem of social networking sites. So, you are a person who spends all work and free time near a computer. How often do you visit such sites, like Vkontakte, My world, Facebook? Vladimir: Honestly, I visit it every day, and my work is closely linked with social networking sites, because I have to be in contact with people from different cities and even states. It is very comfortable to communicate with people in this way. But from year to year I noticed that it is so hard not to open the browser and see who is online. From the other side I know that there are many people who are dependent on it, and they can not realize the danger as soon as possible… After these words he lowered his eyes, and it was absolutely clear that it was a time to ask another question. The speech which emerged in the interview was relevant, but sometimes Vladimir gave voice to the excess speech, like history of the SNS and the differences between Soviet teenagers and modern. It was clear, that this talk was not so pleasant for him, but his answers were interesting and honest. He showed his experience in this question, and it was pleasant to have an interview with Vladimir. The interview was 15 minutes and finished with good senses, best wishes and it was interesting that his mood was very good. Next interview took place in a comfortable café on the March 13th with the cup of hot chocolate. My interlocutor was young. Her name is Janar, and honestly she does not like chocolate, but for me it was a good excuse to have pleasant and interesting talk. This girl is strange and absence of the human’s communication was one of those reasons for this. All her childhood she spent with computer and friends were very extraneous for her. During our talk her eyes were so bright, it seemed to be that social networking sites are close to her past and present. She is 15 years old, but Janar is experienced in life. She did not want to hide something, and without any doubts she discussed this issue with me. The questions about loneliness and the absence of attention to teenagers were so interesting to her, that sometimes Janar smiled in a silly way. But as for me, this smile was like something which can help me in research work. In a few words, it is not difficult to show her interest and indignation about social networking sites. Svetlana: Have you ever had problems with the communication with people? Was it so difficult to find friends and people with whom you can have a good talk? Janar: Yeah, I think so. When I was 13 years old, I spend all my free time near computer on the Internet, and sometimes I had no wish to go somewhere and find good friends. For me it was enough to be online and communicate with people in this way. What else can I say …Now I regret that 2 years ago I was so silly, that I lose all close things for me. I am against it. The interview was 9 minutes and it was recorded also.During our interview it was enough to understand that Janar is a child, who had unlucky experience in her past, but nevertheless she thinks that all is well, that ends well. There were interesting moments and her words like “Oh, I think that this theme is very relevant nowadays” or “It is very important for modern teenagers to understand that they are in a trap because of using SNS, as it is very difficult to get rid of it”. She looked like very glad, maybe because she found a person who can see the reality of using SNS from the different side. These two interviews were successful, but the most interesting was interview number three. The interview was on March 14th. Why is it so interesting, because this interview was with a person, who lives abroad and has a different point of view. His name is Andey. This guy is 18 years old, and he lives in Russia. For ten years he was living in Almaty, that’s why Andrey knows morals and manners of our city. He is working at a metal factory, but still Andrey is very good at computers. Very frequently I see him on the social networking sites, and that’s why the choice was right. Andrey was not so glad of being recorded, but nothing was said about it, so our interview was fascinating for us both. Our talk was with the help of Skype to make easy to hear interviewee. It seems like he is intoxicated with Russia, and I remember a slightly different person, but now he is a grown up and his stereotypes have been changing. I tried to ask questions like “What is your opinion…” or “Explain to me why is it so...” So, for me it was important to hear open answers because Andrey is far from me, and this is interview can change some results in the work. There was one moment, when he laughed and suddenly said: “You know SNS is a scourge, and we must fight with it, because dependence on social networking sites is similar to the narcotics dependence”. All his answers were honest, and it was easy to notice that he likes to compare Kazakhstan with Russia, Almaty with much loved city of Novokuznetsk. According to his words, the situation about dependence on the social networking sites is the same like in Kazakhstan. And even worse, than here, because such sites like Vkontakte.ru and Mail.ru are made in Russian, and this fashion came to us later. So, the interview was over ten minutes, but it was enough to make suggestions and to understand what are social networking sites mean for him personally. This is a passage from his speech: Andrey: You know, social networking sites is a big danger for all people, they can influence on teenagers with the different way. I remembered two teenagers, who killed themselves. The reason was that they had no real communication, and it is difficult to live in such a way. Here, in Russia it is hard to value the percentage of teenagers who are always online, but in Almaty this results should be lower. In common their parents should be responsible for such accidents, but I think that there isn’t another way to stop it. Sometimes, I visit these sites, but then close them down, because I know that it is difficult to say “no” to myself. Social networking sites are devastators of brain, memory, human’s qualities and individuality. Another important stage of the research work is practical experiment. I carried out an experiment and decided not to visit social networking sites during four days. I am a user of Personal Computer and Internet, and it was expected that completely rejection social networking sites would be mental death for me. So, during these four days I made notes about condition of my physical and mental condition.
Day 1. Description of condition: a wish to get up and suddenly open Agent. Ru, strange condition of brain after few hours, a great wish to write something to somebody, thoughts like “Oh my God, it is just a research work, and nobody will know about using it”, then becoming hysterical and finding ideas to do something instead of using sites.
Day 2. The deep depression, no wish to do something, calls to the old and good friends, the nerves were heated, aggression and out of sorts.
Day 3. The same condition like in the second day, but thoughts like “ I am strong, and I really do not need such weaknesses like using social networking sites”, afterwards soothing and relaxation.
Day 4. With the help of convictions I stopped wanting to go on a social network. This is a good lesson for all people how to break such habits. This experiment changed my point of view on Social Networking Sites. One month ago I could spent my entire free time sitting in front of the computer. Now I try to plan my time efficiently. I realized that Social networking sites are just dependence, which teenagers can fight down. Social Networking sites are illusion of the real life, which is absolutely unnecessary.
Analysis and discussion The social networking sites can be one of the greatest innovations in the history of technologies. Sites as Vkontakte, My World and Facebook have captivated the minds of many people, especially children and teenagers. This is a good quote, which shows the nature of Social Networking Sites: “People want to go on the Internet and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that? I am talking the entire social experience of college and putting it online” (“Social Network”, 2010). This situation affects the moral and physical development of people, and it is one of the most popular themes for discussion for parents, psychologists and doctors. The main reason is the influence of social networks on adolescents, who are most dependent on attractive things according to their age. The social networking craze began since the late 90 's, and even today the passion for virtual communication is still alive in our society. The number of everyday visitors of social networking sites increased from 15% to 68% within the past ten years all over the world. The objective of this research work was to analyze the negative and positive influence of the social networking sites on children and teenagers. It is important to understand the main points of people’s dependence, because social networking sites are the scourge of society. Despite the positive sides of this question, teenagers spent many hours sitting near computer, without any chance to do other useful things, like studying tasks and lessons. In the beginning of the research work I expected the negative influence of the social networking sites in children and teenagers in Almaty. The results of the research work proved that our young generation is dependent on SNS in reality. This hypothesis is similar to the results of the American psychologists Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield (Problems With Social Networking and Teens , 2008). They proved that excessive abuse of social networking sites leads to the regression of adolescent. According to the results of my research work it is necessary to mark that the majority of respondents spend their time on social networking sites more than four hours a day. The aim of visiting sites “Vkontakte” and “My World” is to spend time chatting with friends, finding new friends, sharing information, videos, etc. Thirteen respondents which are 50% said they prefer the virtual instead of a real communication, but all of them are on the network every evening. The age of the teenagers does not affect the degree of their dependence, as students and pupils spend too much time near monitors. This point of view is supported by a British scientist, Amanda Peiffer, who proved that social networking sites have deep negative effects on adolescents. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield denied the misunderstanding among adolescents, however the results of my research work show the reverse. Teenagers cannot understand people who “live” in the SNS, but do not realize that they are a big part of those people. Social networking sites allow teenagers to create profile, make virtual friends and be out of the real life. “They find instant messaging especially useful to talk freely to members of the opposite gender”, said Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield in their research work “Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships “. It is an easy way to be at a good condition, to hide emotions and senses. In addition to physiological problems in teenagers there are a number of other negative sides, which are listed in Patricia Greenfield’s work: the threat of cybercrime, threat to the security of the teenager’s family, computer security and fear of attack. (Problems with Social Networking and Teens, 2008). Our teenagers suffer from the same threats. 42% of teenager users said they placed in the general access their full date of birth, and more than half said that they published at least important personal information about themselves (Karavan, 2009). Such data can be used by criminals for online theft. 31% of young users placed the photos and names of their family. (Karavan, 2010) It is dangerous, because according to social analysis there were accidents when such information used for harassment. Approximately 90% of young users reported that they undergone with malicious attack on the Internet, including threats, harassment, spam and "hijacking" of accounts or lists of friends. (Karavan, 2010). In comparing these results of Kazakh scientists with the results of my research work, it is necessary to mark, that three interviewed people Vladimir, Janar and Andrey proved that they are afraid of internet threats. Interview with Vladimir left a big trace on the results of my research. I was face to face with person who lost his relative because of Internet addiction. In spite of his goodwill the answers on my questions were restrained. He answered in this way, because Vladimir realized the real danger from social networking sites, in spite of his dependence on the SNS. I surprised that Vladimir proved his dependence on social networking sites and tried to avoid SNS, in spite of family circumstances and troubles. “Sometimes I can not control myself, and I am just sitting in front of the monitor and communicate with virtual friends”,-said Vladimir. Analyzing our interview it is useful to note that some young people, like him understand the real problem of SNS. Based on interview with Janar, I can say that she is outstanding representative of young generation, who understands negative effects from the SNS, but do not want to change something. “There are over 30% of adolescents who understand, but do not want to get rid of it, because it is interest and attraction. Social networking sites helped me because I can download a video and within twenty minutes, there will be different comments, and I can come into school, and people will be quoting me. It is an interesting way to express my opinion without preaching to people about it,” Janar said. This accessibility attracts many young people. The interview with Andrey, which was occurred on “Skype”, proved my hypothesis, that the issue of the dependence on social networking sites is still problematic in the countries of Former Soviet Union, especially in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Byelorussia. This fact was supported by the Kazakhstan newspaper “Evening Almaty” one year ago. “It seems that all adolescent in the countries of Former Soviet Union are font of Internet, social networking sites and virtual communication. The society should fight with it, because we are expecting psychological pathology of SNS in teenagers in the future”,- said journalist from “Evening Almaty”. It is necessary to mark that our society is anxious about dependence on Social Networking Sites. In spite of friendly talk and laughing it was noticeable that Vladimir, Janar and Andrey did not want to touch the theme of on Social Networking Sites. In general it is right to say that most teenagers do not want to discuss the dependence on Social Networking Sites. All participants of the survey were exposed to some doubts about choosing the right answers for the questions, like ‘What is your attitude to the people who “live” in on Social Networking Sites or “Do you have a lack of communication?” These are the most difficult questions for them, in despite of having twenty minutes to answer the questions. This situation shows the deep doubts about their dependence on Social Networking Sites, it means that they are not sure that they have not it. 100% of participants doubted the evidence of researches based on dependence on Social Networking Sites. So, the hypothesis based on conjecture of dependence of SNS is proved by twenty six participants, who took part in the surveys and three people who took part in private interviews. It means that the issue of the dependence on Social Networking Sites is problematic in the lives of our future generation and in our society in common. So, according to the results of the research, I can draw a conclusion that the signs of the dependence on Social Networking Sites are: teenager spends more than three-four hours a day on Social Networking Sites, teenager becomes unsociable and does not wish communicate with real people, and aggression appears aggression in the teenager in everyday communication. These are the most dangerous conditions of a dependent teenager on the social networking sites. The limitations of this research work are not narrow. As was mentioned above there are little amount of information and research works in Kazakhstan which are devoted to the Social Networking Sites. According to this, it is necessary to note that it was very attractive to create a research on such theme, as “The influence of Social Networking Sites on teenagers in Almaty”. It was difficult to expound my ideas and results of the research. Research work is a creative work, that is why it is difficult to accept any limits in your writing. But all these limits did not influence on the results of the research, because I did all that I wanted to do in the beginning. Of course, I would like to have the interviews with the people, who work with dependent children, with people from medical centers and officialdoms. But it was impossible, because such people do not want to be interviewed at all. Such limits influenced on my results, because I planned to have it, but had only interviews with teenagers. It will be good to compare opinions of officialdoms with the opinions of the children’s parents and ingenuous with children.
Conclusion Social networking sites are everywhere, many people cannot live without them. The hypothesis of this research work was proved by the negative effects of SNS. These effects outweigh positive sides of using SNS, and it influences on the teenagers and children, on the new generation, because they are more dependent on such things. But there are some solutions, which can prevent the appearance of dependence of SNS, such as blocking access to social networking sites in educational institutions and office, the acquisition of dependence on other things like, love for a healthy lifestyle, contact with wildlife, creative applications and hobbies. In agreement with opinion and researches of the authors, which I included in the research results, it is important to note that social networking sites do not help teenagers be sociable and do not help them to adapt to society. A social networking site is a great innovation in people 's lives, which has its negative and positive sides, so everyone should understand that the abuse of something never leads to benefits. Free access to the information posted on social networking sites, the appearance of dependence on it, inadequate view of the world are negative sides of using SNS, which I proved in my research work. That is why I can make a conclusion that this research may give ideas to the psychologists and scientists how to fight against dependence on Social Networking Sites. I showed different sides of using Social sites, and it is necessary to mark that our government should pay attention to such works and to the dependence of teenagers on Social Networking Sites in general. It is a foundation for solutions what our society can do in order to preserve our youth.
Bibliography - Tengrinews, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://tengrinews.kz/ - Kaznet Obzor. (2010) Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://kazobzor.kz/ - Caravan, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://www.caravan.kz/ - Newsland, (2008) Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://www.newsland.ru/News/Detail/id/241082/
- Greenfield, P. & Subrahmanyam, K. (2008). Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20053122 .
- Nelson, A. (2010, November 01). Social Networking Sites Influence students’ lives, society. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/the-internet-and-social-relationships-a111897
- Tab, J. How Social Networking Websites Can Influence on Teenagers? (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2011 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1530495/how_social_networking_websites_can.html?cat=70
- Sharon Hurley Hall. (2010). Problems With Social Networking and Teens. Retrieved from http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/social-networking/issues-with-teens-and-social-networking.shtml
Appendix
Sample of questionnaire
Do you feel a lack of communication? yes no
Have you an account in the social networking sites?
How many hours do you spent in the social networking sites? more that 5 hours
1-3 hours
My internet is working all the time
What is the periodicity of your visits?
Every day
Once in the 2-3 days
Once in a week
Once in a month
What is your purpose of visiting social networking sites?
Do you prefer virtual communication instead of a real?
What is your attitude to the people who “live” in the social networking sites?
What is your way of spending free time?
A few questions about participant
1) Your gender
a) male
b) female
2) How old are you?
a) 13-14
b) 15-16
c) 17-18
d) 19-21
3) What is your marital status?
a) married
b) not married
c) civil marriage
Bibliography: - Tengrinews, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://tengrinews.kz/ - Kaznet Obzor - Caravan, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://www.caravan.kz/ - Newsland, (2008) Kazakhstan - Greenfield, P. & Subrahmanyam, K. (2008). Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20053122 . - Nelson, A. (2010, November 01). Social Networking Sites Influence students’ lives, society. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/the-internet-and-social-relationships-a111897 - Tab, J - Sharon Hurley Hall. (2010). Problems With Social Networking and Teens. Retrieved from http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/social-networking/issues-with-teens-and-social-networking.shtml Appendix
Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………2
Chapter 2: Review of the literature…………………………………………………………….7
Chapter 3: Statement of results………………………………………………………………..11
Chapter 4: Analysis and discussion…………………………………………………………...19
Chapter 5: Conclusion………………………………………………………………………....23
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………...24
Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………..25
Introduction The police of the Almaty region opened a criminal case against a 17year old teenager, who was surfing another’s Internet for a few months and expended 460 000 tenge. As it turned out, the child connected to the internet of Forestry Raiymbek district area which is 500 kilometers from Taldykorgan city. The police contacted with managers of Forest Company, whom Kazakhtelecom presented a bill for an internet for 460 000 tenge. They started to figure out during the investigation that the robber was a Taldykorgan schoolboy. According to a source, "the robber" was arrested in December last year. However, criminal handlings were instituted under the Article 175, Part 1 of the Criminal Code. Now the investigation continues. The amount of damage will be charged from boy 's parents. The arrested boy explained that he didn’t have Internet at home, because his family is poor, and he wanted to be always on social networking sites, such as Mail.ru and Vkontakte.ru. Consequently, it is right to say that the boy had a great dependence on social networking sites, and could not pay for Internet at home and at an Internet café. In conclusion, it is necessary to note that in 2010 the police intercepted the activity of two groups of hackers. Ten Internet robbers were detained by police, they caused major material damage to Talgar’s and Taldykorgan’s organizations. Police did not rule out the fact that the 17 year old teenager could be with a group of hackers, from which he took over the experience (2010, Tengrinews). The dependence on social networking sites is the problem of teenagers, who cannot understand the real dangers from it. It is necessary to mark that there are positive sides to using social networking sites, such as rapid access to the communication with people, interesting pastime with different interlocutors, and of course the possibility to be in contact every time. These stories are found everywhere. The internet has become an integral part of society. With one keystroke I can buy any little thing at the other end of the planet or communicate with a school friend who lives in Australia. Society is becoming increasingly integrated, globalization is takingXitsXscourse, andXuniversal computerization and Internet communication will only grow. There are prerequisites to think so. And there will be benefits for humanity. But there will be downsides, because every coin has two sides. The problem of Internet addiction was revealed with the growth in popularity of the Internet. Some people got so carried away by a virtual space that they began to prefer the Internet and social networks to reality, spending 18 hours a day on the computer. The dramatic failure of the Internet makes such people anxious and emotionally aroused. The problem of social networks is expressed in the fact that some teenagers no longer realize that virtual communication is only a supplement to a full live communication. Popular social networking sites take the leading position in the rankings of attendance in kaznet. (2010, Kaznet Obzor) In recent years, among the Internet-resources of Russia and Kazakhstan social networks such as Odnoklassniki.ru, My World and Vkontakte became popular . The problem of social networks leads to the fact that users of such resources lose their individuality (2010, Caravan). Some teenagers cease to realize that communicating online is not a real live communication. In addition, the ability to change reality and to appear rich and successful attracts many people. You can be the owner of a store chain and owner of a new Lexus for the interlocutors in the network, while actually, you are just a teacher of Russian language and literature at a school in a suburb of Almaty. Most teenagers are faced with this kind of problem. So, the problem of social networking sites is the substitution of real communication, and the destruction of working time, the destruction of families. The need to constantly go to the pages on social networking sites is dependence, which is similar to the desire of drug addicts to take the next dose.Teenagers are wasting dozens or even hundreds of thousands of hours, depending on the size of enterprises. The problem of social networking sites that is that they give the illusion of real life. The term "social network" was coined by the sociologist James Barnes in 1954. The modern concept of social networks in a simple form means a circle of friends of a person, where a man himself is the center of a social network,and his friends are a branch of the social networks and relationships between people are ties.Therefore, social networks are actively used for the production of diverse information about people or organizations. In the second half of the 20th century social networks were actively developed as a scientific concept, they first became popular in the West, later they came to Kazakhstan. In 1995 appeared the first, almost, social networking site, Classmates.com, which was created by Randy Conrad, the owner of Classmates Online, Inc. Classmates.com was different from many existing social networks. Users could not create profiles, but they could locate lost friends, terrible school bullies, and perhaps even his memorable "first date". It became a hit, and even today the site consists of approximately 40 million registered users. Then, in 2003-2004 sites such as MySpace and Facebook appeared( 2008, The picture of social networks, Newsland) Social networking sites were becoming not only a tool for finding friends and acquaintances, but also an attractive way to establish new contacts. Now social networking sites exist within certain groups of people who are united by common interests and views or professional characteristics (2008, The picture of social networks, Newsland). Friends and new acquaintances now are made in the electronic world. Today, there is an information war. And the most valuable thing is information. Where can we find different information? We can find it in the social networking sites. Social networking sites are very useful for communication, but redundancy causes dependence of people of different ages and various strata of society on it. The problem of dependence on social networking sites is still actual for many generations. This research is very important because even parents sometimes cannot explain the behavior of their children. The intention of my research paper is to find the reasons of dependence on social networking sites, its effects, why many children have depression and aggression, and to find out whether those social networking sites are really dangerous for teenagers. I found out the reaction of the teenagers aged from 13 to 19 to prohibition of using sites, and the solutions of our society and government offer to solve these kinds of problems. The research paper will show effects of the dependence on the society and the main causes of this problem. The main objective is to understand the real influence of the social network sites on teenagers and their minds. I reported the numbers of people, who noticed dependence, the report of media about “internet” incidents within the past few years, and details about psychological and physical condition in teenagers from the employees of medical and educational institutions. So, the main research question is whether social networking sites pose a threat for humanity and to find out the symptoms of dependence. The problem of social networking sites necessitates explaining to the teenager that active communication across social networks is only a complement to a full live communication. That is what will help to prevent acts of antisocial behavior among young people. In my research work I expected to find out answers to the questions I wanted to investigate. Is it really the case, that social networking sites have a bad influence on teenagers and their minds? This is the main question in my work. Many people have said differently about this issue, but no one knows the right answers to it. Through my surveys I found the real face and meaning of social networking sites. The methods and purposes of my work are closely connected with each other. The social networking sites and their effects are still very interesting issue in the society. Every person can react differently to the prohibition of using sites. I am a person who uses social networking sites every day, and I did not use this for a period of 4 days, took notes about changes in my mood and my wishes. This mode is necessary, because it is impossible to write a research work without knowledge and experience in these things. I expected deep difficulties in abstention from Internet resources even for 4 days, but it was a good experience to understand the negative and positive sides of the question. I planned survey, which included 8-9 thematical questions and 4-5 extra questions, which showed private information of every person, like name, gender, age and marital status. I expected that these results would illustrate the whole picture of attitude to the social networking sites based on surveys of all interrogated teenagers. Such questions, like “Do you prefer virtual communication instead of real communication?” and “What is your purpose of visiting social networking sites?” helped me to create surveys for all participants from the ages of 13 to 19. The surveys were conducted on the 5th and 7th of April. So, I detected negative aspects of spending much time on social networking sites. The last point of the research methods were 3 interviews with the people of 17-20 years old, because it is important to know their conception of the dependence. Within these 3 interviews I planned 1 interview with the person from another country, especially Russia. These 3 teenagers are students in university that is why it was easier to find points of contact. To research for the good results, it is indispensable to compare the situation in our country with another. The preferable point is that the most social networking sites, which are popular in Kazakhstan, were created in Russia, that’s why it is useful to know the differences in circumstances with the use of them exactly in Russia. The types of 3 interviews were not anonymous, and all teenagers introduced themselves without any problems. The research work is divided into introduction, review of the literature, statement of results, analysis and discussion, and conclusion. All these parts are closely connected with each other and show the main idea through the whole work. The bibliography and appendix are applied.
Review of the literature Over the past decade, the Internet has changed the way people communicate with each other. In modern society more and more people use Social Networking Sites, it is a part of their lives. Social Networking Sites are very popular especially among young generation. Social Networking Sites is one of the most popular topics today. Having searched the literature related to the topic of Influence of SNS on Interpersonal Relationships I have found a lot of information and can say that many authors are very interested in it. The main interest is the influence of the social networking sites on children and teenagers. Almost every article includes a little research with examples and comparisons. However, there are as many opinions as people. Some articles mainly consist of negative effects of using Social Networking Sites. But on the other hand, there are a lot of studies that suggest the opposite. Each author has his/her point of view which influence on the work. In the article “Social Networking Sites influence students’ lives, society” by Adam Nelson, a Teacher of the Social Sciences in the USA, Jason Milczewski, is interviewed in 2010. According to Milczewski, Social Networking helps people to be more connected and get information from all over the world. Despite the fact that it is easy to keep in touch, Social Networking Sites make our society a little weaker because face-to-face communication is taken away. But he noted that virtual communication is very different thing in comparison with real communication with people. Facebook is one of the biggest and the most popular SN in the USA. It is easy to use and to control the profile. Milczewski states that SN helps people to be more diverse and smarter. I agree with Jason Milczewski because Social Networking Sites might be beneficial if people use them wisely. But the problem is that millions of teenagers spent many hours sitting in front of a monitor. However, people also use it irresponsibly by putting pictures up and writing things which will stay forever. Also, he mentioned that parents should monitor the way that their children use it. In this situation only parents can control the way of spending time their children. Ultimately, Adam Nelson suggests to control and limit actions on the Internet. The quotation from the recent film The Social Network explained by the main hero , “The Internet is not written in pencil… it is written in ink.” Another article “How Social Networking Websites Can Influence Teenagers” written by American psychologist J. Tab presents only some negative effects. The article was written in 2011. The author of this article discourages using SN by teenagers because of studies that have revealed the SN may cause some psychiatric disorders. It is not one research which proved negative influence of SNS on children and teenagers. This conclusion was reached after interviews with 13-year-old girls. After the interviews were analyzed by scientists, they concluded that teenagers use SN very often in order to escape problems in their lives, however they cannot always hide from the problems, so these become more acute and can lead to depression. On the other hand, sometimes SN can help people to relax and just forget about problems, so after that people might look at them with a “fresh view”. The author tries to encourage parents and older people to help teenagers reduce the time they spend using SNS. J. Tab, as doctor opposes strongly against Social Networking Sites because it makes teenagers’ life more passive and I think this is a really strong reason. There are also positive sides of using Social Networking Sites, which are showed in work of the English psychologist Sharon Hurley Hall.(Problems with Social networking Sites and Teens, 2010) But nevertheless negative sides in her work are stronger that positive. She explains the dangers of Social Networking Sites, their causes and consequences. There is advice for parents about how to prevent dependence on Social Networking Sites in their children. This article is mainly based on everyday problems from Social Networking Sites like publicizing private instant messages, posting threatening messages, posting photos that will cause embarrassment, and spreading rumors. In comparison with the research of other authors, it is necessary to note, that Sharon Hurley Hall produces the sudden decisions, which can help children and teenagers not to be dependent on Social Networking Sites. This article has some aspects which gave me the right directions in researching SNS. A Professor of psychology at California State University-Los Angeles, Kaveri Subrahmanyam, and a Distinguished Professor of psychology, Patricia Greenfield, (2008) have written a book “Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships”. They are working together with the director of the Children’s Digital Media Centre Phil Robison withr the investigation influence of Social Networking Sites on teenagers. The authors have produced an interesting and useful work. This book is based mainly on researches connected with the different teenager’s preferences and surveys. The authors show that teenagers are using communication tools to reinforce existing relationships, both with friends and romantic partners. It is necessary for parents to read this book, because they will understand better why their children prefer online communication. The book touches on the different aspects of the topic of my research. The authors analyze the influence of online communication on relationships with friends, families, romantic partners and strangers. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield show that teenagers use Online Communication to reinforce the existing relationships with friends and romantic partners. After the reading of the surveys I noticed that I would give the same answers to some questions as the majority of teenagers do. Social Networking Sites allow teenagers to create profiles, make friends and interact with them. The authors describe some studies which were conducted to determine the purposes of using online communication and they found out that gender plays an important role. For example, girls use SNS mainly to reinforce existing relationships while boys use them to flirt and make new friends (p.125). Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield referred to a survey which was made by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. According to this survey 48% of online teenagers state that the Internet helps to improve their relationships with friends. However, it can cause serious conflicts between parents and children. Parents do not know everything about their children’s lives. One recent survey of parents showed that they know nothing about their children’s SNS behaviors. The authors also determine the benefits and costs of online interactions with strangers. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield demonstrate that online communication can be both positive and negative. The main problem with the SNS in Kazakhstan is that nobody can imagine that teenagers are in mental danger. There is no scientific literature and articles about influence of SNS on teenagers, because in 2008 the government and the psychologists of Kazakhstan Republic banned to write about Internet dependence, SNS dependence, crime committed under dependence on Internet. That’s why it was very hard to find information about SNS in Kazakhstan. I focused on American articles and researche because the creation of SNS occurred in theUnited States, and the information and studies about SNS are more clear than in others countries. All things considered, this Literature Review consists of three short summaries of the literature I have read so far. The first is “Social Networking Sites influence students’ lives, society” by Adam Nelson. He describes the great possibilities of using Social Networking Sites and some consequences to which it can lead. The second article is called “How Social Networking Websites Can Influence Teenagers” written by J. Tab who is strongly against SN because it might harm to physical and psychological health. The third article is mainly about negative influence of SNS and the ways of solving those problems in cyber world. The fourth one is the longest. The book is written by two authors: Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield. I found this book interesting, it contains a lot of surveys. One of the main purposes of this work is to determine how online-communication influence real-life communication and relationships. Another purpose is to benefit from the using online communication while avoiding the dangers. The results of the researches which I used are pretty similar to the results of this research work. But also there are some differences which showed sundry understanding of society about what is a social networking site.
Statement of results Almost all people know about social networking sites. People who use social networking sites are of different ages and social status, preferences and tastes, wealth and marital status. Social networking sites are very big problem for teenagers in Almaty. One well-known British psychologist, Aric Sigman, commented in his article in the journal “Biologist” in 2010 about the negative impact on human’s health, which is caused by social networking sites. He acknowledges that these Web services bring many benefits, making social lives very rich and interesting. However, networking sites like Facebook or “Vkontakte” eventually replace the live communication with virtual. With respect to Kazakhstan, this problem is particularly acute, and its extension is closely connected with the culture of our society. Our society should fight with this problem, and every person should understand the negative influence of social networking sites. That is why I decided to conduct field research to see the negative influence of social networking sites on teenagers, because teenagers are the basis of our society. The survey included 8-9 thematical questions and 4-5 extra questions, which showed private information of every person, like name, gender, age and marital status. Questionnaires were completed by 26 teenagers aged from 13 to 18 years old, 50% of these teenagers are studying at school and universities. The surveys were conducted on the March 5th and 7th. These questionnaires contained both open and closed questions, to detect the influence of social networking sites on teenagers. Three unstructured interviews were conducted to complement the surveys and to detect the attitude of teenagers to this problem. And in the end, I decided to test myself by not using social networking sites within 4 days, as I am a heavy user of such sites. The results of the questionnaires are showed first, then the observations and descriptions of all interviews, while the results of the individual practical test are the last point. There are many people who used social networking sites for different reasons, but they are united by one thing - an overwhelming desire to communicate online, replacing real life with "life" on the World Wide Web. The majority of users are teenagers and children, who cannot understand the real dangers of social networking sites. The methods of investigation were not so difficult, as they seemed to be. There were 10 males and 16 females out of 26 people. All of them were glad to answer such questions, because they think that social networking sites cause serious trouble for them. All of 26 people are users of Personal Computer and Internet. The participants were asked about the frequency of visits to social networking sites, about their reasons to visit it, their attitude to people who “lived” in social networking sites and the description of relations with friends, including private information. The aim of this survey was to know the attitude of teenagers to the social networking sites, and to detect the dependence of Almaty teenagers. The questions were structured, and all participants answered without problems to the following questions: “Do you feel a lack of communication?”, “Do you have an account in the social networking sites?”, “How many hours do you spend in the social networking sites per day?”, “How often do you visit SNS?” All these questions were easy for teenagers, and without any doubts they answered them all. But such questions, like “What is your purpose of visiting SNS?”, “Do you prefer virtual communication instead of real communication?” and “What is your attitude to the people who “live” in the SNS?” caused difficulties. It was very interesting to notice that even teenager’s faces were bewildered. The last question was “What is your way of spending time?” which showed genuine interest to the SNS. All questions were interesting for participants, and the table 1 shows the results: the number of questions, the variant of answer, and common quantity of participants.
Table 1.
| | | |
|Number of question |Variant of answer |The quantity of answers |
| | | |
|1. Do you feel lack of |yes |6 |
|communication? | | |
| | no | 20 |
|2. Have you an account in | Vkontakte | 11 |
|the SNS? | | |
| | Mail.ru | 13 |
| | Facebook, Twitter| 2 |
| | |0 |
| | | 16 |
|3. How many hours a day do |more that 5 hours | |
|you spent in the SNS? | | |
| | | 6 |
| |1-3 hours | |
| | My | 4 |
| |internet | |
| |is working all the | |
| |time | |
|4. How often do you visit | Every day | 19 |
|SNS? | | |
| | Once in the 2-3 days | 5 |
| | Once in a week | 2 |
|5. What is your purpose of |Communication with friends | 12 |
|visiting SNS? | | |
| | Spending time | 10 |
| | Downloading music, films | 4 |
|6. Do you prefer virtual | yes | 13 |
|communication instead of | | |
|real? | | |
| | no | 13 |
|7. What is your attitude to | positive | 8 |
|the people who “live” in the| | |
|SNS? | | |
| |negative | 18 |
|8. What is your way of |Going for a work, sport, | 6 |
|spending free time? |dating | |
| |Watching films, playing PC, | 20 |
| |using SNS | |
The most important results in this survey are obtaining useful information about way of spending free time and using social networking sites. And the most surprising results for me were that teens prefer to spend time on Social Networking Sites instead of a tour with friends and communication with people face to face. It is easier for them to write messages than to have a friendly talk with person. Another thing which struck me is that teenagers spent more than 3-4 hours a day on the Internet and Social Networking Sites. Eighteen teenagers stated that they feel negatively to ward the people who “live” in the SNS. But at the same time nineteen participants recognized that they are visiting Social Networking Sites every day. This is paradox- to spent more than 4 hours per day on the Internet and visit Social Networking Sites every day, but hold negative attitude to such kinds of people. According to these results, I can make output which will help me to understand the situation with using Social Networking Sites. As was said above, there were 10 males and 16 females, most of them are studying at school or college. 20%, which is over 5 people, are studying at university. The age of participants is different. More than 60% are 18-19 years old, and others ranged from 13 to 17 years. Only 3 participants at the age of 18 are married. Many participants were in doubt about questions, I asked about difficulties and for 80% of teenagers it was hard to answer such questions like, did they know people who live a virtual life instead of a real one. So, it was interesting to notice different kind of senses on their faces, because it seemed that participants were surprised and interested in this questionnaire. Three interviews were conducted, but all of them were long and surprising for participants. And these three interviews recorded on my mobile phone. The first person with whom I had an interview was Vladimir. This interview was held on March11th. His age is 19 years old, he seems to be very clever and not an ordinary man, that is why the talk was very interesting for both of us. He answered questions easily and smoothly, and I suggested that he had repeatedly faced with similar situations. Vladimir was so calm and seasoned, that I was a bit confused. I found it hard to talk to him on this subject, because two years ago, his sister committed suicide because of unrequited love to a virtual boyfriend. But he was the only person among all peers, who sees the problem of social networking sites clearly. There was only one thing that betrayed that he was nervous: all the time he constantly touched his hair. The confidence was playing a big role in this interview, and he knows that for me it was too hard to answer such questions, like what was his attitude to the people who spend all the time in the social networking sites. This is a passage of our interview: Svetlana: I know that it is hard for you to talk about it, but I hope that this talk will bring us understanding of the problem of social networking sites. So, you are a person who spends all work and free time near a computer. How often do you visit such sites, like Vkontakte, My world, Facebook? Vladimir: Honestly, I visit it every day, and my work is closely linked with social networking sites, because I have to be in contact with people from different cities and even states. It is very comfortable to communicate with people in this way. But from year to year I noticed that it is so hard not to open the browser and see who is online. From the other side I know that there are many people who are dependent on it, and they can not realize the danger as soon as possible… After these words he lowered his eyes, and it was absolutely clear that it was a time to ask another question. The speech which emerged in the interview was relevant, but sometimes Vladimir gave voice to the excess speech, like history of the SNS and the differences between Soviet teenagers and modern. It was clear, that this talk was not so pleasant for him, but his answers were interesting and honest. He showed his experience in this question, and it was pleasant to have an interview with Vladimir. The interview was 15 minutes and finished with good senses, best wishes and it was interesting that his mood was very good. Next interview took place in a comfortable café on the March 13th with the cup of hot chocolate. My interlocutor was young. Her name is Janar, and honestly she does not like chocolate, but for me it was a good excuse to have pleasant and interesting talk. This girl is strange and absence of the human’s communication was one of those reasons for this. All her childhood she spent with computer and friends were very extraneous for her. During our talk her eyes were so bright, it seemed to be that social networking sites are close to her past and present. She is 15 years old, but Janar is experienced in life. She did not want to hide something, and without any doubts she discussed this issue with me. The questions about loneliness and the absence of attention to teenagers were so interesting to her, that sometimes Janar smiled in a silly way. But as for me, this smile was like something which can help me in research work. In a few words, it is not difficult to show her interest and indignation about social networking sites. Svetlana: Have you ever had problems with the communication with people? Was it so difficult to find friends and people with whom you can have a good talk? Janar: Yeah, I think so. When I was 13 years old, I spend all my free time near computer on the Internet, and sometimes I had no wish to go somewhere and find good friends. For me it was enough to be online and communicate with people in this way. What else can I say …Now I regret that 2 years ago I was so silly, that I lose all close things for me. I am against it. The interview was 9 minutes and it was recorded also.During our interview it was enough to understand that Janar is a child, who had unlucky experience in her past, but nevertheless she thinks that all is well, that ends well. There were interesting moments and her words like “Oh, I think that this theme is very relevant nowadays” or “It is very important for modern teenagers to understand that they are in a trap because of using SNS, as it is very difficult to get rid of it”. She looked like very glad, maybe because she found a person who can see the reality of using SNS from the different side. These two interviews were successful, but the most interesting was interview number three. The interview was on March 14th. Why is it so interesting, because this interview was with a person, who lives abroad and has a different point of view. His name is Andey. This guy is 18 years old, and he lives in Russia. For ten years he was living in Almaty, that’s why Andrey knows morals and manners of our city. He is working at a metal factory, but still Andrey is very good at computers. Very frequently I see him on the social networking sites, and that’s why the choice was right. Andrey was not so glad of being recorded, but nothing was said about it, so our interview was fascinating for us both. Our talk was with the help of Skype to make easy to hear interviewee. It seems like he is intoxicated with Russia, and I remember a slightly different person, but now he is a grown up and his stereotypes have been changing. I tried to ask questions like “What is your opinion…” or “Explain to me why is it so...” So, for me it was important to hear open answers because Andrey is far from me, and this is interview can change some results in the work. There was one moment, when he laughed and suddenly said: “You know SNS is a scourge, and we must fight with it, because dependence on social networking sites is similar to the narcotics dependence”. All his answers were honest, and it was easy to notice that he likes to compare Kazakhstan with Russia, Almaty with much loved city of Novokuznetsk. According to his words, the situation about dependence on the social networking sites is the same like in Kazakhstan. And even worse, than here, because such sites like Vkontakte.ru and Mail.ru are made in Russian, and this fashion came to us later. So, the interview was over ten minutes, but it was enough to make suggestions and to understand what are social networking sites mean for him personally. This is a passage from his speech: Andrey: You know, social networking sites is a big danger for all people, they can influence on teenagers with the different way. I remembered two teenagers, who killed themselves. The reason was that they had no real communication, and it is difficult to live in such a way. Here, in Russia it is hard to value the percentage of teenagers who are always online, but in Almaty this results should be lower. In common their parents should be responsible for such accidents, but I think that there isn’t another way to stop it. Sometimes, I visit these sites, but then close them down, because I know that it is difficult to say “no” to myself. Social networking sites are devastators of brain, memory, human’s qualities and individuality. Another important stage of the research work is practical experiment. I carried out an experiment and decided not to visit social networking sites during four days. I am a user of Personal Computer and Internet, and it was expected that completely rejection social networking sites would be mental death for me. So, during these four days I made notes about condition of my physical and mental condition.
Day 1. Description of condition: a wish to get up and suddenly open Agent. Ru, strange condition of brain after few hours, a great wish to write something to somebody, thoughts like “Oh my God, it is just a research work, and nobody will know about using it”, then becoming hysterical and finding ideas to do something instead of using sites.
Day 2. The deep depression, no wish to do something, calls to the old and good friends, the nerves were heated, aggression and out of sorts.
Day 3. The same condition like in the second day, but thoughts like “ I am strong, and I really do not need such weaknesses like using social networking sites”, afterwards soothing and relaxation.
Day 4. With the help of convictions I stopped wanting to go on a social network. This is a good lesson for all people how to break such habits. This experiment changed my point of view on Social Networking Sites. One month ago I could spent my entire free time sitting in front of the computer. Now I try to plan my time efficiently. I realized that Social networking sites are just dependence, which teenagers can fight down. Social Networking sites are illusion of the real life, which is absolutely unnecessary.
Analysis and discussion The social networking sites can be one of the greatest innovations in the history of technologies. Sites as Vkontakte, My World and Facebook have captivated the minds of many people, especially children and teenagers. This is a good quote, which shows the nature of Social Networking Sites: “People want to go on the Internet and check out their friends, so why not build a website that offers that? I am talking the entire social experience of college and putting it online” (“Social Network”, 2010). This situation affects the moral and physical development of people, and it is one of the most popular themes for discussion for parents, psychologists and doctors. The main reason is the influence of social networks on adolescents, who are most dependent on attractive things according to their age. The social networking craze began since the late 90 's, and even today the passion for virtual communication is still alive in our society. The number of everyday visitors of social networking sites increased from 15% to 68% within the past ten years all over the world. The objective of this research work was to analyze the negative and positive influence of the social networking sites on children and teenagers. It is important to understand the main points of people’s dependence, because social networking sites are the scourge of society. Despite the positive sides of this question, teenagers spent many hours sitting near computer, without any chance to do other useful things, like studying tasks and lessons. In the beginning of the research work I expected the negative influence of the social networking sites in children and teenagers in Almaty. The results of the research work proved that our young generation is dependent on SNS in reality. This hypothesis is similar to the results of the American psychologists Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield (Problems With Social Networking and Teens , 2008). They proved that excessive abuse of social networking sites leads to the regression of adolescent. According to the results of my research work it is necessary to mark that the majority of respondents spend their time on social networking sites more than four hours a day. The aim of visiting sites “Vkontakte” and “My World” is to spend time chatting with friends, finding new friends, sharing information, videos, etc. Thirteen respondents which are 50% said they prefer the virtual instead of a real communication, but all of them are on the network every evening. The age of the teenagers does not affect the degree of their dependence, as students and pupils spend too much time near monitors. This point of view is supported by a British scientist, Amanda Peiffer, who proved that social networking sites have deep negative effects on adolescents. Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield denied the misunderstanding among adolescents, however the results of my research work show the reverse. Teenagers cannot understand people who “live” in the SNS, but do not realize that they are a big part of those people. Social networking sites allow teenagers to create profile, make virtual friends and be out of the real life. “They find instant messaging especially useful to talk freely to members of the opposite gender”, said Kaveri Subrahmanyam and Patricia Greenfield in their research work “Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships “. It is an easy way to be at a good condition, to hide emotions and senses. In addition to physiological problems in teenagers there are a number of other negative sides, which are listed in Patricia Greenfield’s work: the threat of cybercrime, threat to the security of the teenager’s family, computer security and fear of attack. (Problems with Social Networking and Teens, 2008). Our teenagers suffer from the same threats. 42% of teenager users said they placed in the general access their full date of birth, and more than half said that they published at least important personal information about themselves (Karavan, 2009). Such data can be used by criminals for online theft. 31% of young users placed the photos and names of their family. (Karavan, 2010) It is dangerous, because according to social analysis there were accidents when such information used for harassment. Approximately 90% of young users reported that they undergone with malicious attack on the Internet, including threats, harassment, spam and "hijacking" of accounts or lists of friends. (Karavan, 2010). In comparing these results of Kazakh scientists with the results of my research work, it is necessary to mark, that three interviewed people Vladimir, Janar and Andrey proved that they are afraid of internet threats. Interview with Vladimir left a big trace on the results of my research. I was face to face with person who lost his relative because of Internet addiction. In spite of his goodwill the answers on my questions were restrained. He answered in this way, because Vladimir realized the real danger from social networking sites, in spite of his dependence on the SNS. I surprised that Vladimir proved his dependence on social networking sites and tried to avoid SNS, in spite of family circumstances and troubles. “Sometimes I can not control myself, and I am just sitting in front of the monitor and communicate with virtual friends”,-said Vladimir. Analyzing our interview it is useful to note that some young people, like him understand the real problem of SNS. Based on interview with Janar, I can say that she is outstanding representative of young generation, who understands negative effects from the SNS, but do not want to change something. “There are over 30% of adolescents who understand, but do not want to get rid of it, because it is interest and attraction. Social networking sites helped me because I can download a video and within twenty minutes, there will be different comments, and I can come into school, and people will be quoting me. It is an interesting way to express my opinion without preaching to people about it,” Janar said. This accessibility attracts many young people. The interview with Andrey, which was occurred on “Skype”, proved my hypothesis, that the issue of the dependence on social networking sites is still problematic in the countries of Former Soviet Union, especially in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Byelorussia. This fact was supported by the Kazakhstan newspaper “Evening Almaty” one year ago. “It seems that all adolescent in the countries of Former Soviet Union are font of Internet, social networking sites and virtual communication. The society should fight with it, because we are expecting psychological pathology of SNS in teenagers in the future”,- said journalist from “Evening Almaty”. It is necessary to mark that our society is anxious about dependence on Social Networking Sites. In spite of friendly talk and laughing it was noticeable that Vladimir, Janar and Andrey did not want to touch the theme of on Social Networking Sites. In general it is right to say that most teenagers do not want to discuss the dependence on Social Networking Sites. All participants of the survey were exposed to some doubts about choosing the right answers for the questions, like ‘What is your attitude to the people who “live” in on Social Networking Sites or “Do you have a lack of communication?” These are the most difficult questions for them, in despite of having twenty minutes to answer the questions. This situation shows the deep doubts about their dependence on Social Networking Sites, it means that they are not sure that they have not it. 100% of participants doubted the evidence of researches based on dependence on Social Networking Sites. So, the hypothesis based on conjecture of dependence of SNS is proved by twenty six participants, who took part in the surveys and three people who took part in private interviews. It means that the issue of the dependence on Social Networking Sites is problematic in the lives of our future generation and in our society in common. So, according to the results of the research, I can draw a conclusion that the signs of the dependence on Social Networking Sites are: teenager spends more than three-four hours a day on Social Networking Sites, teenager becomes unsociable and does not wish communicate with real people, and aggression appears aggression in the teenager in everyday communication. These are the most dangerous conditions of a dependent teenager on the social networking sites. The limitations of this research work are not narrow. As was mentioned above there are little amount of information and research works in Kazakhstan which are devoted to the Social Networking Sites. According to this, it is necessary to note that it was very attractive to create a research on such theme, as “The influence of Social Networking Sites on teenagers in Almaty”. It was difficult to expound my ideas and results of the research. Research work is a creative work, that is why it is difficult to accept any limits in your writing. But all these limits did not influence on the results of the research, because I did all that I wanted to do in the beginning. Of course, I would like to have the interviews with the people, who work with dependent children, with people from medical centers and officialdoms. But it was impossible, because such people do not want to be interviewed at all. Such limits influenced on my results, because I planned to have it, but had only interviews with teenagers. It will be good to compare opinions of officialdoms with the opinions of the children’s parents and ingenuous with children.
Conclusion Social networking sites are everywhere, many people cannot live without them. The hypothesis of this research work was proved by the negative effects of SNS. These effects outweigh positive sides of using SNS, and it influences on the teenagers and children, on the new generation, because they are more dependent on such things. But there are some solutions, which can prevent the appearance of dependence of SNS, such as blocking access to social networking sites in educational institutions and office, the acquisition of dependence on other things like, love for a healthy lifestyle, contact with wildlife, creative applications and hobbies. In agreement with opinion and researches of the authors, which I included in the research results, it is important to note that social networking sites do not help teenagers be sociable and do not help them to adapt to society. A social networking site is a great innovation in people 's lives, which has its negative and positive sides, so everyone should understand that the abuse of something never leads to benefits. Free access to the information posted on social networking sites, the appearance of dependence on it, inadequate view of the world are negative sides of using SNS, which I proved in my research work. That is why I can make a conclusion that this research may give ideas to the psychologists and scientists how to fight against dependence on Social Networking Sites. I showed different sides of using Social sites, and it is necessary to mark that our government should pay attention to such works and to the dependence of teenagers on Social Networking Sites in general. It is a foundation for solutions what our society can do in order to preserve our youth.
Bibliography - Tengrinews, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://tengrinews.kz/ - Kaznet Obzor. (2010) Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://kazobzor.kz/ - Caravan, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://www.caravan.kz/ - Newsland, (2008) Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://www.newsland.ru/News/Detail/id/241082/
- Greenfield, P. & Subrahmanyam, K. (2008). Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20053122 .
- Nelson, A. (2010, November 01). Social Networking Sites Influence students’ lives, society. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/the-internet-and-social-relationships-a111897
- Tab, J. How Social Networking Websites Can Influence on Teenagers? (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2011 from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1530495/how_social_networking_websites_can.html?cat=70
- Sharon Hurley Hall. (2010). Problems With Social Networking and Teens. Retrieved from http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/social-networking/issues-with-teens-and-social-networking.shtml
Appendix
Sample of questionnaire
Do you feel a lack of communication? yes no
Have you an account in the social networking sites?
How many hours do you spent in the social networking sites? more that 5 hours
1-3 hours
My internet is working all the time
What is the periodicity of your visits?
Every day
Once in the 2-3 days
Once in a week
Once in a month
What is your purpose of visiting social networking sites?
Do you prefer virtual communication instead of a real?
What is your attitude to the people who “live” in the social networking sites?
What is your way of spending free time?
A few questions about participant
1) Your gender
a) male
b) female
2) How old are you?
a) 13-14
b) 15-16
c) 17-18
d) 19-21
3) What is your marital status?
a) married
b) not married
c) civil marriage
Bibliography: - Tengrinews, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://tengrinews.kz/ - Kaznet Obzor - Caravan, (2010).Kazakhstan. Retrived from http://www.caravan.kz/ - Newsland, (2008) Kazakhstan - Greenfield, P. & Subrahmanyam, K. (2008). Online Communication and Adolescent Relationships. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20053122 . - Nelson, A. (2010, November 01). Social Networking Sites Influence students’ lives, society. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/the-internet-and-social-relationships-a111897 - Tab, J - Sharon Hurley Hall. (2010). Problems With Social Networking and Teens. Retrieved from http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/social-networking/issues-with-teens-and-social-networking.shtml Appendix
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